Istanbul (to be continued – maybe 2016)

Well, What can I say about Istanbul? The ancient Byzantium and Constantinople (name still used in several languages, and Greek Κωνσταντινούπολις, Konstantinúpolis) is the largest city in Turkey, the fifth largest in the world, competing with London as the most populous Europe, with 13,120,596 inhabitants in its metropolitan area (2010). The vast majority of the population is Muslim (with large numbers of laymen), and a tiny minority of Christians and Jews.
It is the capital of the metropolitan area (Buyuksehir) and the province of Istanbul, which is part of Marmara region. In the past it was the administrative capital of the Province of Istanbul, called Rumelia or Eastern Thrace. It was called Byzantium until 330 AD, Constantinople until 1453, widespread name in the West until 1930. During the Ottoman period, the Turks called it Istanbul, the name officially adopted on March 28, 1930.
It was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire until 1923. Currently, although the country’s capital is Ankara, Istanbul remains the main industrial center, commercial, cultural and university (home to more than a dozen universities) in the country. It is the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the seat of the Orthodox Church.
The city occupies both banks of the Bosphorus Strait and the northern Sea of ​​Marmara, which separates Asia from Europe, which makes Istanbul the only city that occupies two continents.Beyond the Bosphorus, which divides the north-south Asian and European sides, this is still divided by the Golden Horn in the east-west direction. Usually it is considered that the town has two historic centers, both on the European side – the oldest, where was the core of ancient Byzantium and Constantinople correspondent to the Fatih district is in the south, while Beyoğlu (formerly Pera and where stood the medieval European district of Galata) is north.
Some historic areas of Istanbul were declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 1985. In 2010 he was the European Capital of Culture and is a candidate for Olympic Games 2020. Due to its size and importance, Istanbul is considered a global city and megacity.